


The Phoenix's Heart

by Wulfie89



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, Rebirth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23164552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wulfie89/pseuds/Wulfie89
Summary: After a strange letter from an island within the Whitebeard's old territories, Marco found himself traveling away from his Pops' old home island to see who this mysterious former crewmate might be.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67





	1. Reunion

Marco the Phoenix, the former first mate of the Whitebeard Pirates, frowned deeply as his small ship came into sight of the island he had been called too, the mayor claiming that a member of his old crew had appeared there unexplainably. This island was known as the Dragon Isle and was made up mostly of thick forests surrounding a dormant volcano. On the south side of the island was a small village that was his current destination. The former pirate glanced at the letter again, his seemingly bored or sleepy looking blue eyes skimming over the words he had memorized by now;

_Commander,_

_An unexpected, unexplainable visitor has been found near our dormant volcano. We believe he is one of your former crew mates. We believe we know who he is, but it is rather impossible for it to be who we believe if the papers from five years ago are to be believed._

_It would be best if you would join us upon or home island, the Dragon Isle, and see for yourself. As of the time I am sending this missive to you, sir, the young man has not awoken, and if he does before you arrive, we will contact you._

_Hope to see you soon,_

_Mayor Hyndrik._

A faint sigh left the man as he put the letter away.

Five years ago.

The year his world crashed down around him.

The year he lost not only his father and captain, but the love of hs seemingly eternal life, and so many of his brothers.

He had to know who this mysterious young man was. He had to know if the feeling he felt deep within his heart was true.

~

Upon docking, Marco leapt from his vessel and strode forward to meet the elderly mayor of the island.

"Mayor Hyndrik. You look well." The phoenix greeted the man with a small bow of his head, "I came as quickly as I could. Has the young man woken?" He questioned calmly.

The mayor shook his head with a faint sigh, "I am sorry, Commander, he has shown no signs of waking."

"I see.....your letter was rather...vague. Can you please describe this man to me?"

"It may be better if I just show you, sir, you may not believe me if I tell you. Seeing is believing, after all, my dear Commander. Please, follow me. Your ship will be cared for well." Hyndrik said, before turning to start walking.

Marco's confusion grew as he started to follow Hyndrik. The pair silently went through the village to a large building, the mayor leading him inside, up a flight of stairs, down a hall and to a door where he stopped and turned to look at Marco.

"Now, when you enter this room, believe me when I tell you that this is unprecedented and very strange, but our best minds are looking into it. I also swear to you that we are in no way trying to deceive or hurt you. Do you understand, Commander?"

Marco frowned deeply, but nodded, "I understand, Mayor. Please, open the door."

Hyndrik nodded and took a breath before opening the door and allowing Marco to step inside.

The room was dark, save for a small strip of light that slipped between the closed curtains to spill across the bed, allowing a line to shine across the slumbering visage of the occupant of the room. When Marco's eyes adjusted to the lack of light in the room, he felt his heart leap into his throat as his eyes widened to take in a face he had only seen in his dreams for the past five years. Unaware of his own movements, he made his way towards the bed, his eyes fully taking in the figure on the bed.

He knew this person was just a touch shorter then him, tanned skin always warm with the blaze always burning deep inside. Boyish freckles dusted over the bridge of his nose and over his cheeks as well as his shoulders and randomly dusting various parts of his body. Handsome face framed by thick, wavy, black locks that despite being always buffeted by sea air were amazingly soft. Eyes, that were currently closed, but he knew were a stormy grey and held an unending spark of mischievousness.

As he stared down at the man he believed to be gone forever, he was surprised when a spot of dampness fell upon one of those freckled cheeks. Marco blinked a little and reached up to touch his own cheek, shocked to find it wet. Upon finding those tears, he returned to the current moment and gasped softly, falling to his knees and taking the younger man's limp hand between both of his own, pressing a desperate kiss to his knuckles, murmuring his name ever so softly. He felt his healing flames spark up and let them dance over the young man on the bed, blanketing him in a soft, blue inferno.

"Wake up, Ace, my beloved Firefly, come back to me." Marco whispered, pressing his forehead to the hand clasped between his own, "The world is so cold without you beside me.......come back to me......"

~

Marco felt as if he had been sitting there for hours, murmuring soft things to the man upon the bed. Only his Haki told him that Hyndrik had left him alone after his mild breakdown. He felt he could remain there for hours more, days even, if he needed to, just to see those eyes look upon him again. When he did finally feel those fingers twitch, he jerked his head up in order to stare intently at the younger male's face, watching as dark brows furrowed slightly as his nose wrinkled slightly.

"Ace.....Firefly.......come on....." Marco whispered, reaching up to touch the younger male's cheek.

The younger male, Ace, took a deep breath before his eyes slowly cracked open, gazing blearily at the ceiling for a few moments before turning towards Marco, a faint smile curling across his lips, "Heya, birdy......did you get older on me....?" He murmured, his voice rough.

Marco let out something halfway between a laugh and a sob before moving to wrap his arms around Ace, burrowing his head into the younger man's shoulder and inhaling his scent, "I-I've missed you, brat."

To Be Continued....


	2. Letters

After finally waking, it was hard for Ace to move right away, his body still working on getting back to normal. This frustrated the young man to no end, but he was glad he was able to hug and cuddle with Marco. It was hard for him to hear everything that had happened in the time he was gone and he was still confused as to why he was back, but the mayor, Hyndrik, said that they were researching that as quickly as possible.

It had been a few days since he woke when Ace finally found the courage to ask about his brother. However, when Marco asked him which one, it gave him a whole new bout of confusion.

"Luffy, of course. You already told me about the others." Ace huffed, pinching Marco's side.

"Oh, that's right, he reappeared after you died....." Marco mumbled, more to himself then anything.

"Huh? He who? Marco......who reappeared......?"

"Uh......you're other brother......"

The silence after that statement was deafening. Marco watched as emotion after emotion flew over Ace's face from disbelief to shock then onto sadness and joy before he found himself with a lapful of sobbing Ace, the younger man's hands clinging to his shirt.

"M-Marco......don't lie to me...." Ace sobbed, staring up at him with wide, wet, hopefull eyes.

"I'm not lying. You're other brother, Sabo, he's alive." Maro informed him, wrapping his arms around the other male to rub soothing circles over his scarred back.

Ace just sobbed in joy, unable to get anymore words out between his cries. Sabo was alive! Did he find Luffy? Were they together? Where had Sabo been? Why had he never contacted him? These questions along with so many others raced through Ace's mind and he was so focused on them that he missed what Marco had said to him and looked up at him, blinking away some tears as he reached up to rub his face.

"Wh-what?" He croaked, cringing a bit at how his voice sounded.

"Heh, I said, I've already sent letters to both Luffy's crew and Sabo. I sent a message to Izou and Thatch as well. I'm not entirely sure how to contact the others', but I know Izou could." Marco repeated, reaching up to gently wipe any remaining tears from Ace's eyes, 

"You just have to focus on regaining your strength before everyone shows up. The crew may be spread far and wide, but you know everyone would love to give you a good old Whitebeard Pirates party."

Ace chuckled a bit at that and shifted to a more comfortable position, "Yeah.....but.....it was my fault everyone.......so many were hurt or killed......and Pops....How can you be so sure they would all wanna see me again? Because of me, the whole crew fell apart....."

"Ace. No. Don't you even think of going down that path! Yes, we lost Pops, but we lost you too, and so many others. and the only one at fault was that damn Teach. We would never leave one of our own to be killed like that and he knew that. He knew just what to do to rip the crew apart. But, Ace, we found our way. Some of our brothers started their own journeys, some found new homes, some stuck together, and some went at it alone, but we always were and always will be family and with you back, you deserve a welcome back party and you best believe they will come here for you, just like we went to Marineford for you. You are one of us, Ace, forever and always."

By the time Marco finished his speech, more tears were leaking down Ace's face and he felt as if his heart was ready to explode. He still had his family, no matter what. The one thing he had always wanted, whether he knew it or not, he had here with this man. Without another thought, he pushed himself up to connect his lips to Marco's clinging to the other man as his tears soaked both their faces.

Marco smiled and closed his eyes as he held the other close, kissing him back without hesitation. He knew how Ace's past haunted him and knew he would always do anything in his power to make Ace see that he was and always will be loved.

~

Soon enough, letters started flooding their way to Ace and Marco, some expressing excitement for Ace's return while others expressed trepidation, saying Marco was crazy for believing his lover had returned to life, but each and every one stated that they would be there as soon as possible because a party was due anyway, by the old Whitebeard's ideals anyway.

The ones that hit Ace the hardest were the ones from his own brothers. Luffy's letter was a mess of obvious tear stains and scratchy writing, but came with a second, neater missive from his navigator promising that they would be there as soon as they could, which shouldn't be long seeing as they were in the vicinity anyway. The one from Sabo got tear stained as well, but by his ow tears as he read through Sabo's neat writing, or tried to do so, he ended up handing it to Marco to have the other man read it out loud since his tears were making it too hard to read.

_You knucklehead!_

_Who said you were allowed to die and leave that little idiot alone? I know....I'm a hypocrite, but at least he still had you, Ace. When I found him, it was heartbreaking. But, enough of that. How the hell are you alive? I know how I survived, but you, you really died.....I can't wait to see you again, Ace, we have so much to catch up on._

_Love you, Knucklehead._

_Your brother,_

_Sabo_

Ace sniffed and scrubbed his hands over his face before taking the letter and adding it to the pile on the small desk, glad he was able to move under his own power now, "That ass......yelling at me through a letter.....I gotta give him a good beating...." He chuckled.  
Marco smiled and hugged Ace from behind, "He actually has your old power now. Which is weird, because you still feel like you have your fire."

"Huh? Yeah.....wonder how that'll work....." Ace mumbled curiously.

"Maybe it has something to do with you you came back?" Marco hummed, nuzzling into the younger male's hair.

"Yeah.....maybe....."


	3. Reunions(Again)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter here guys, sorry, but I felt this was a good spot to leave it.

__

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Chapter 3

_****_

_**  
**  
_

The time had come.

There were at least four ships approaching Dragon Isle, the lead ship boasting a well known lion's head on the front and an image of a straw hat wearing skull and cross bones on the main sail.

Ace could feel his breath freezing in his lungs as he stood on the shore, watching the ships draw closer. Before he could even make anyone out on any of the ships, a loud shout of his name could be heard before a mass of what could only be described as rubber collided with him, sending him tumbling back head over heals with a set of arms wrapped around him at least five times. He could just barely make out a sobbing voice repeating his name over and over in his ear and it made his own eyes fill with tears as he managed to extract his arms enough to wrap them around the form clinging to him like it's namesake.

"I'm so sorry, Luffy........" Ace murmured, nuzzling into his baby brother's hair taking in the scent of sea air and rubber that seemed to always stick to the younger D.

"You're back! I missed you so much!" Luffy sobbed, refusing to let Ace go even as Marco came to help them up. Luffy even went as far as to wrap his legs around Ace, determined to never let go of his older brother ever again.

Marco chuckled and waved to the disembarking crews, smiling at seeing a few of his own brothers and quickly sidestepping as Ace was promptly bowled over again and dog piled by Haruta, Thatch, and a few of their other brothers while Izo stood off to the side, obviously holding back tears.

"Come on you pirates. Ace is gunna be smothered if you don't let up a bit." Marco chided in his rarely used big brother tone.

The rowdy pirates chuckled sheepishly through their joyous tears and, one by one, climbed off of Ace until only a certain monkey remained clinging stubbornly to him.

"Oi, Luffy, You gave him a better welcome back then you gave me." Another voice called making Ace freeze and turn towards it's owner.

"S-Sabo....." Ace mumbled before squirming free of Luffy and tackling the last of their trio, "I can't believe you're alive.....h-how.....?"

"Heh, I should be saying that to you seeing as I never actually died." Sabo teased lightly as he hugged Ace tightly.

"As touching as this all is, maybe we should get away from the shore?" One of the Strawhats suggested, the group agreeing and slowly trouping inland to continue their reunion.

"Excuse me, Commander-san. May I speak with you?" Nico Robin said calmly to Marco.

"Ah, just call me Marco, but sure." Marco hummed, walking off with the woman.

"I have done some extensive research on this island. From what I understand, there is a lore here that began may millenia ago. It speaks of a being that lived and died by flames being reborn as the island's protector, taking on the form of a mythical beast in times of peril. It is how the island gained it's name, Dragon Isle. Now this lore fell to the wayside as it has been unneeded for quite some time and many forgot about it and believed it to be nothing but a work of stories. However, as I'm sure you know, every story came from truth somewhere. Do you understand where I am going with this?"

"Lived and died by flame.....? Ace had the mera mera no mi.....he was killed by Akainu who used magma which could be a form of flame......you think Ace was reborn to be the island's protector?"

"Precisely. I believe there is a time of peril coming to this land and the island knew it so it brought back someone it believed could be it's protector. Someone who could be the dragon of Dragon Isle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, yes, there we have it. The premise of Ace's rebirth.  
> I apologize for not popping up before this to say hi to all you lovely readers. I'm in awe at all of the love this fic has been getting. This is new territory for me, writing wise. I love the pairing of Marco and Ace so much and the way things ended for Ace left a bitter taste in my mouth. Yes, I love that he protected Luffy, but he shouldn't have died!*Has a lot of rage for this*  
> So, this is how I fix the wrongs that have been made! So, if you enjoy this, please give love, comments are my life blood, but kudos sustain me as well.  
> Love you all!


End file.
